Terrazzo flooring strip



Dec. 29, 1925 s 1,568,012

E. v. WALSH A TERRAZZO FLOORING STRIP Filed July 14, 1924 IN VEN TOR Eg 4 Efgzej I/. Ffa/25h M ATTORNEY lParental Dee 29, 1925.-

UVNITED STATES VEaNEsr v. WALSE, or ser. PAULl nnvNEsoTA..

.PATENT-o Fries. y

TERRAZZO irLooEINes'rEIE. i

Application led Ju1y 14,

To all whom f may concern.'

Be it known that I, ERNEST V. WALSH,- a` citizen of the United States, residin at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Terrazzo Flooring Strips, of which the following is a specifical' tion.

The resent invention relates to a division strip for terrazzo and s1m1lar.floor1ng.

4In the laying of terrazzo, mastic, or simi-- lar iioorings, a base of concrete, or similar material, is first laid on a'Sub-floor tobei covered, and allowed to harden. Upon this base the material forming the terrazzo floor is laid, and also allowed to harden. A terrazzo flooring mixture, in an ordinary form, comprises a magma of cementitious material in which are embedded irregularly shaped r chi s of rock or marble. After the terrazzo las hardened, the top thereof; is ground off toform a smooth surface, thereby exposing the chips embedded therein in the form of an irregular design.` The chips embedded in the cementitiousmagma may be of various colors, if desired, to.give-the appearance of a mosaic liooring.

i A sub-floor, upon which a concrete base and terrazzo flooring is laid, frequentlyhas a different coefiicient of expansionwfrom that of the concrete base and terrazzosurfacing material, and alternate heating and coolingv of the entire Hoor for this reason may cause a section of the Hoor to crack. If -such cracks are not checked, they may spread entirely across a floor.

An object of the present invention is to make a strip, which, when embedded in a terrazzo floor, will ;form a division between adjacent sections thereof.

A further object is to provide a combined v vexpansion and division strip for a terrazzo floor and abase thereof.

Another object is to improve a division strip for terrazzo fiooring.

In order to attainA these objects, there is provided, in accordance with one feature of the invention, a strip of folded, sheet-like material, having pro ections upon the sides thereof made by ben ing the material formf' ingthe strip.

eferring to the drawings:

Figure 1, is a view in isometric projection of a portion of terrazzo flooring, with strips made in accordance with the present invention embedded therein. A I portion of the 1924. semi ne. 725,809.,

surface .of-the Hoor is vshown inthe condition in which it is first laid, while another ortion thereof is finished surface.

`Figure 2, is an enlarged lView `in end elevation, of' a' division strip made in accordance with the present invention.

lshown ground-down to a fied orm of the invention showing the beads ljgure 3', -isan enlarged view of a modi;l

on the side of the strip vertically offset from for interlocking with an abutting which a'terrazzo ioo'r B is laid .The righthand portion y.1 thereof is shown as in the rough condition in which it'is laid and the left hand portion l2 thereof is' shown as ground down to a finishedsurface. Division strips C, preferably made from-brass` or aluminum,'or an alloy thereof, are shown extending entirely'through thecementitious -or concrete base portion A and the terrazzo upper portion B. Beads-3 and 4 formed by folds in the strips may be positioned at the division point between the concrete base and the terrazzo yfiooring, and are embedded in, and gri ped by, the flooring material. The rounded) upper portion of the division strip is at the height of the upper surface of the rough, unfinished, terrazzo Hoor; andwhen the floor is ground down to a finished state, as shown at 2, the rounded vupper portion of the strip is ground simultaneously off with it. to the line 5, thereby dividing the strip into two oppositely disposed sections.

In one form o the invention the lower ptrallel portions o f the strip4 below the ads are slightly separated as at 6, to provide an. expansion area for the concrete base. i This allows for a slightly greater separation ofthe concrete base portion than of the terrazzo surfacing portion and makes for a closerand more uniform joint in said surfacingportion. The beads 3 and 4 lserve to anchor the oppositely disposed strip portions firmly in position, and, when the terrazzo or other surfacing material is laid, and the fioor ground down to a finished surface, any contraction which takes place in the material will cause a slight separation of the two dividedportions of the strip. If a crack should appear in any section of the terrazzo, it would continue only to the division strip and would be there stopped and preventedfrom spreading to adjacent sec` floor under construction, a section of concrete base may be laid and smoothed off to a thicknessY equal to the height of. a bead 3 from the bottom of a division strip C to be employed. The section of concrete' base thus. laid is then surrounded' with division strips eut and shaped as desired to define make in the finished floor.

a pattern which such strips are ldesired to Other 4sections of concrete base are then laid, division strips placed, and the process, repeated until the entire ioor is-covered, when the concrete base is allowed to harden. f

The portions of division strips `extending above the concrete base forma pattern o supplemental units. Each of these unts is then illed in with a desiredflooring mixture, such as mastic or terrazzo, and is smoothed off evenly `with the tops of the division strips. This mixture also is allowed to harden,`and the surface thereof is ground smooth, in a manner well known to the art.

The grinding process removes the top por-v tion of each4 division strip as hereinbefore mentioned to split the division strips into pairs of oppositely disposed edging. strips, each edgin strip being firmly secured to the edge o the section which it adjoins by means of a bead 3 or 4 which is embedded in, and gripped by, the iooring material, in a Amanner clearly apparent fr om Figure 1 of the drawin s.

A modified ormof .flooring strip is shown in Figures 3 and 4. AIn this form beads 15 and 16 onfopposte sides of a strip are oil"- set vertically, so that the bottom edge of one bead is at the same height as the top edge ofthe other bead. Such a strip is preferable in cases where it is desired to form a patternl in a floor which necessitates the abutting of an end of one strip against a side of another strip. If strips similar to those illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 were used for this purpose, the beads of an abutting4 strip would bei at the same height as those on a strip against which it abutted. By using strips having the beads offset as in Figure 2, however, and by assembling the yhand cross strip 9 is laid with its high bead on the near side to fit over the low bead on lstrip 7, and its low bead on the far side to lit under the high bead on strip 8. Strip 10 is laid in a reverse manner from stripf 9, namely, with its' low bead on the near side and its high bead on the far side, which bea'ds will fit under the high bead on strip '7and over'the low bead on strip 8, respectively.

lAnadjoining intersection E is assembled in a reverse manner from intersection D; that is, each strip in intersection E is reversed end for end, from the strip occupying a similar position in intersection D.

A schematic sketch is shown in Figure 5 to illustrate how the intersections would work out in a floor having a plurality of such intersections. Each intersection in this re 4, intersection D is assembledv figure will be considered as having the high bead of each intersecting strip thereof en the side in which the curved arrow, surrounding it,-points. Thus, intersections 1L and 13 would be similar to intersection D, and intersections 12 and 14 would be similar vto intersection E.

The advantages olfered by a fiooring strip such 'as is herein described will be apparent to one skilled in the art, since, in using a strip having projections on each side thereof, it would be necessary to mitre the corners of such projections in order to secure a fit at an intersection of abutting strips, which is unnecessary with the present strip. Furthermore, there isno interlocking of such mitred strips, such as is afforded by the overlapping beads of the present-strip.

What I claim is:

1. A floor structure comprising a base, a top layer, a strip vertically dividing said structure into. sections and extending above the finished surface thereof, said strip being folded upon itself to form a pair of substantially parallel portions, a bead on the exterior face of each parallel portion to form an anchoring means therefor, said strip being divided at the fold thereof by a structure in' sections, said strip being of sheet metal folded upon itself toform 'a pair of substantially parallel, oppositely disposed portions coextensive throughout their eight, a bend in each of said portions to form an anchoring bead thereon, said strip being divided, by a finishing operation performed upon the floor, to form a pair of op.- positely disposed edging. strips thereof.

3. yA floor structure comprising a4 base, a metal strip inserted in said base, and extending above the top surface thereof, said s tri being formed of metal folded upon itse f with a beaded portionextending` from eachside thereof, said bead being formed of a bent portion vof the metal strip, a surfacing material of, cementitious material adjacent the portion of themetal vstrip extending above the top surface ofthe base, a portion of the' top surface 'of the surfacing materiall being ground off together witha' portion of4 the metal strip at a oldthereinito'divide the strip into a pair of oppositely disposed ed`g ing strips.

4. In a door structure of cementitious m Vterial, a folded metal strip inserted in said base, and a-beaded portion extendin from each side thereof, said beads' being ormed of a bent portion of the metal strip, the bead on one side of the strip being verticalf l offset from the bead on the other side of tile strip.

5. A floor structure comprising a base, a metal strip inserted in said base and extending above the top surface thereof, said stri belng formed o a bead on each side of the folded strip, each bead being formed of a bent portion of the metal strip, thebeads being verticall offset from each other, surfacing material of cementitious material adjacent the metal of each intersectin metal folded upon itsel strip extending above the to surface of the Y base, a portion of the top o said surfacing material being removed todivide the metal strip at a fold therein to form oppositely disposed edging strips,- thereof.

6. In a Hoor structure of cementitious material in which the surface thereof is removed ina grinding operation, a plurality of angularly intersecting folded metal strips embedded therein, the folds of which are above the level of the finished surface thereof, and a bead on each side ofthe metal strip to be embedded in and retained by the cementitions flooring material, the bead on one side of yeach intersecting strip being vertically offset from the bead on the other side of each intersecting strip, said beads overlapping at an an ular intersection of a lurality of the folde metal stripsto interlbck said intersecting strips. y

7. In a floor structure of cementitious material in which the surface thereof isv -removed in a grinding operation, a plurality of an ularlyintersecting folded metal strips embe' ded therein, the folds of which are above the level o f the finished surface thereof, and a bead on each side of each metal strip to be embedded in and retained by the cementitious flooring material, the bead on one side o f each intersecting strip being vertically offset from the bead on the other side strip, said beads overlapping at an angu ar intersection of a plura ity of the folded metal strips to interlock said intersecting stri s, said inding operation removing a fo d in eac metal strip to divide it into a pair of oppositely ldis osed edging strips.

n testimony whereof I aix my signature.

ERNEST v. WALSH. 

